Slick roads and low-elevation colors

Fall is my favorite season. It's not perfect, though. Leaves turn orange and yellow and red, then fall to the ground. It often rains at the same time, making leaf-covered roads slicker than snot. It's beautiful but it requires control.

Sunday, despite the heavy cloud cover and spitting rain, I went for a short local ride along roads Bluff, Lusted, and Ten Eyke. The route I chose took me down to Dodge Park where it crosses the Sandy River and back up the other side toward home. There had been a lot of wind and rain in previous days so the beautiful fall colors were on the roads as much as they were anywhere else. Riding in these conditions demands attention and care. Easy throttle, easy brakes, and careful lines. It was beautiful and good practice.

Fall ride to Detroit

I had a fantastic Fall ride to Detroit and back on Sunday. It was chilly when I left the house, but after gassing up in Estacada, it began to warm up enough to be comfortable. The road to Detroit remains open until the first snowfall; from Ripplebrook south they don't plow the road so whatever snow falls, stays. This will probably be my last ride on that route until May or even June next year.

The vine maple are turning colors and their vivid oranges and reds are dramatic underneath the much taller douglas fir. Not all trees are changing yet, so the mountains have a nice mix of greens and yellows. I was briefly followed by another motorcyclist, who gained on me in the straights but lagged way behind in the curves. He never got close enough for me to get a look at what kind of bike he rode. By the time I stopped in Detroit and headed back toward home, there were quite a few more bikes out and about, all heading toward Detroit. I saw several V-Stroms in the mix.

I dropped my bike

It's supposed to be hot today. I wanted to move my bike into a spot where it gets shady in mid-afternoon so the seat wouldn't be screaming hot when I leave at the end of the day. I hopped on and engaged the clutch, then started scooting it forward with my feet.

The problem is, I forgot to disengage the steering lock and the bike kept curving to the left. When it did that it leaned to the right and I was unable to stop it in time. It fell to the right onto the pavement and dumped me onto the ground as well. I did my best tae kwon do roll and was unharmed save for losing the bark at the end of my right pinky finger (WTF?)

The crunching sound my bike make was mortifying. The blow to my pride was the worst, however. I went inside and asked a buddy to come outside and help me get the bike upright. I put the small of my back to the seat and lifted while he held onto the handlebars and guided it.

Once back up I saw that the right sidecase was scuffed and scratched pretty bad but it didn't look like it was actually punctured. The bar-end on the handlebar was bent at an odd angle, too. Some gas spilled out as well (I filled the tank before arriving at work that morning). Other than that there didn't appear to be any other damage. After disengaging the steering lock and putting it into neutral I started it up.

If the bar end doesn't fall off it should be safe to ride home.

My pride received the most damage of the event.

Updated: Pics added...

[caption id="attachment_574" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Right handlebar bar-end"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_575" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Right hand guard"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_576" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Givi E21 right side case"][/caption]

Too tired to ride home?

We've had great Fall riding weather lately but I've been concerned about commuting to work. I've been working so many hours that I'm afraid I'd be too fatigued to make it home safely. Sometimes I'll get home and not remember the drive.

Riding motorcycles is a great thing but you need to maintain a sense of awareness of when it's okay to ride and when it's not okay.

I'm taking a couple days off later this week and hope to get some good day rides under my belt. It's perfect riding weather and like to hit some area mountain roads before they get covered with snow for the winter season.